If you expect to get a bit of style with your £16,500 speakers you might be a bit disappointed by the Sophia 3s. Distinctive and unusual perhaps sums it up best. They’ll appeal to a die-hard fan of Silent Running (we can’t be the only people to think they look like the garden-tending robots of the ’70s sci-fi classic, can we?)

Wilson Audio has prioritised function over form, though, for these undoubtedly high-end speakers.

The idea here is that the shaping and cabinet materials work optimally for each range of frequencies. The company has also opted for a full

Wow, I have always loved the best gear, so Profoto was a no trainer. I have tried all the others but nothing is as robust and pretty as Profoto. Oh yes looks are important too. I like to buy the best because I want to know my lights will work when they have to, if I have a 5 minute window with a busy famous person I want to concentrate on my images not my gear.

I expect things to work always and that’s what Profoto gives me… reliability. I started with Profoto over 15 years ago, I bought two

Well, look at the handsome HTC, still heading up this fop 10 in the wake of our Supertest pitting it against the Xperia Z and Samsung’s hotly anticipated Galaxy S4. The One is a masterclass in smart phone craft, from its impossibly clear 1080p screen to its stokable aluminium body, clever Sense 5 skin and Ultra Pixel camera. The S4 might be better for power users, and the xperia Z for mobile movie buffs, but the One finally drags HTC out from under the also-rans.

A quite remarkable device, this Sony sounds great, has a wonderful picture in 2D or 3D and is crammed with on-demand content including Sony’s own Movies Unlimited. Its trump card is 4K video upscaling: you may not need it yet. but you soon will.

£185

★★★★★

Best for ON-DEMAND FILMS

Panasonic DMP-BDT220

It’s not the most extravagantly specified Blu-ray player around (though Panasonic’s remote-control app is a joy), but the BDT-220 has the sort of picture- and sound quality to make its price look like a misprint. And that’s our favourite kind of mistake.

The Paperwhite’s 6in touchscreen has 62% more pixels than its predecessor, giving it pin-sharp text, but all you’ll care about is the built-in backlight. It’s a godsend for night-time reading, and even in sunshine the always-on light makes text sharper and ‘pages’ whiter than ever. With a solid build, grippy rubber finish and plenty of fonts, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. Plus Amazon’s ecosystem still rules supreme. Feeling skint? The non-touch Kindle is just £70.

The best phones in the world run Android. The best Androids ore this Samsung, Sony and HTC. Sophie Charara finds out which is best of the best… of the best.

A smartphone is the most important weapon in your gadget arsenal. That means choosing the right smartphone is pretty damned difficult — and this is especially true today. You see, not long ago we would have automatically recommended the iPhone; it was the best option on many levels, so the only decision to make was how much built-in storage to plump for. But now that Android rules the roost, with

It’s rare to find a book about nutrition that’s written in a style that’s both engaging enough for the general public and authoritative enough for nutrition professionals. In The Best Things You Can Eat, Grotto has created a science-based volume that’s not only accessible for all audiences but often highly entertaining.

Grotto’s easy-going writing style makes it a pleasure to glean information that could be a chore to digest, from descriptions of top-rated sources of various nutrients to foods that fight cavities and gum disease. Numerous brief charts provide quick references to rankings of nutritional values and comparisons of various

As we lament the premature passing of the Jaguar in RAF service and look around to see that in France, Ecuador and Nigeria the venerable lady has also been laid to rest, we could be forgiven in thinking that the sands of time were also running out with the last two operators, Oman and India.

It may therefore come as a surprise to many that although Oman is considering an imminent replacement, in India the type is not only still going from strength to strength but has only just recently finished production, the last aircraft coming off the line as

Out of the 351,465 single-family homes in San Antonio (according to the 2012 state code assessment), approximately 1,000 have been certified green by Build San Antonio Green or LEEDS. Some are located in San Antonio’s most desired neighborhoods: Lavaca/ Downtown, Stone Oak and Willis Ranch. Others are scattered throughout the city.

Lavaca, the city’s oldest neighborhood in the back of HemisFair Park, has recently come alive with new and retro green projects. CVF Homes’ architect/builder Juan Fernandez is leading the trend, winning the 2012 San Antonio Green Building award for his energy-efficient/low-maintenance home for Corrie and Jeff McPherson on Leigh

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